But What About
by funniefriend1245
Summary: A response to eyecanread’s story, Journey. Everyone deserves to be happy, and where's Aang's happy ending? Not beta'd, forgive spelling and grammar mistakes. Aang x OC. Rating to be safe.


But What about…

_A/N: This is in response to __**eyecanread**__'s story, __Journey__, a Zutara fic that ends up with Aang finally getting over Katara and leaving her and Zuko to their love. A semi-Zutara story, but only because Aang deserves to be happy too. Not beta'd, so forgive any and all spelling/grammar errors. Aang x OC. _

As Aang shut the door behind him, giving his best friend and the once-love-of-his-life some privacy, he was surprisingly content…for them. In his own heart, there was a vast crater of loneliness, because—for the first time since waking up in the South Pole—there was no one person who was holding his love.

He decided to meditate.

He opened his air glider and called to Momo. There was a place in the city that was usually calm and quiet; an ideal place for meditation. He hoped he could make it there unnoticed, because for once he didn't want to be the Avatar. He wanted to be a normal guy, who has just done something that he had before considered 'too hard.'

When he got there, he wasn't disappointed. The little garden was, as usual, deserted. It was a lovely place; there were flowers of almost every shape and color decorating the ground, the trees, and almost every other available surface. Tiny fuchsia blossoms on vines so thin that it was almost impossible formed a natural curtain that hid a tree stump that created a perfect seat. In fact, it was big enough that two people could comfortably sit there. It was here where Aang sat, shaded by a tree's green fronds. He kneeled into a meditative pose, and started to breathe deeply. When Aang was almost ready to enter into the Spirit World, he was interrupted.

"Oh! I'm sorry!"

Aang snapped out of his meditation in an instant. Looking wildly around him, he saw that the person who had disturbed him was a girl about his own age, small in stature, and obviously Fire Nation. Her dark hair was just a little bit longer than Suki's, her pale face was red from embarrassment, and she was twisting her red skirt nervously in both hands. She was also—Aang noticed with a start—trying to hold back tears.

"No, it's okay," he said. "Um…would you like to sit down?" he asked, rubbing the back of his neck embarrassedly. The girl nodded. "What's your name?" he asked her as she lowered herself next to Aang on the wide stump.

"Ming."

"Nice to meet you, Ming" he said. "I'm…My name is Aang." He almost told her that he was the Avatar, but remembered that almost everyone knew who the _Avatar_ was.

"That name doesn't sound very Fire Nation," she said.

"What? No, I'm not _from _the Fire Nation! I'm the Avatar," he explained. Ming's blush deepened.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she said again. "I—I didn't realize…"

"No, it's okay," Aang said. "It's sort of…refreshing, to not have everyone gawking at me whenever they hear my name." Now it was he who blushed. For some reason, this girl was making him feel self-conscious about…nearly everything.

It was, perhaps, fortunate that Ming spoke then. "You look a bit upset. Is anything wrong?"

Aang sighed. "I don't think that you can help," he said.

"Why? Is it some big, dangerous Avatar mission that you have to do?"

"No, it's nothing like that!" Aang said. "I've just had to make some personal decisions that _seemed _easy at the time, but carrying them out was a lot harder than I expected."

Ming rolled her eyes in sympathy. "I know how that goes," she muttered darkly.

Aang looked at her in slight surprise. "Maybe you should talk about it," she said. "It usually makes you feel better."

Ming sighed. "Have you ever loved someone? Loved them so much that you felt like you might explode because you love them that much?" He nodded. "Well, I used to be seeing a boy, and everything seemed like it would be perfect for us. But then we fell apart, and I just finally let him go. It was the hardest thing I've ever done." She flushed a bright crimson. "I'm sorry, I'll just—go," she said. "You've got bigger problems to worry about."

"No—wait, it's okay," Aang said, cutting her off. "That's the exact thing that happened to me, today! I just came here to meditate."

"Oh," Ming said. "Do you come here often?"

"Well, I am friends with Fire Lord Zuko," Aang said, "But I also have world duties to take care of also." If I'm in the area, I'll usually come here for meditating." Just then Momo swooped down and landed on Ming's shoulder. She sat very still, but when Momo nuzzled her cheek, she reached up with her left hand and stroked him gently. He purred and chirped, nuzzling her even harder. She giggled.

"What sort of creature is he?" she asked.

"Oh, that's Momo! He's a flying lemur," Aang explained to her. His eyes lit up. "If you want, I can show you one of my biggest friends too! He's very friendly…"

"Sure, I'd love to!" Ming said. Heartbreak forgotten, she and Aang walked through the curtain and back to the palace stables. As they went, Momo circled their heads and occasionally flew ahead, but always came back to them. As they walked, Aang and Ming's hands kept brushing against each other's until they were finally holding hands.

When Aang opened the stable doors, Appa rumbled. "Hey buddy," Aang said happily. "You wanna meet someone? This is Ming. Ming, this is my good buddy, Appa." He was grinning as he pulled Ming toward the sky bison.

"He's so…pretty," Ming breathed. As Aang pulled her closer to Appa, she reached out and gently felt the soft fur.

"You can sit up there if you want," Aang offered. Ming's eyes lit up and she nodded, so Aang helped her clamber up to the saddle where he and his friends had spent so much time together.

The memories of Katara, he realized, were no longer bittersweet but simply fond thoughts of a time that had passed, bringing new people and memories into his life. He and Ming talked for a long time, but when Aang asked her if she needed to be home soon, she replied "No, my mother knew that I was upset and so she's not expecting me home until late, if I come home at all."

Finally Aang glanced around and said "I think I should talk to the Fire Lord. I may be in the Fire Nation for personal matters, but now is as good a time as any to speak to him about the status of his country. You know, world matters to attend to…"

Ming nodded sympathetically. "I understand," she said. "I think I'll just go home." A nervous thought occurred to her, and she asked "When do you think you're going to leave?"

"Not for a while, I think," Aang said. "I was originally going to leave after two or three days, but I think my stay will be extended."

Ming's curiosity aroused, she asked him why, even though she thought—or perhaps hoped—that she knew the answer.

Aang turned to her, his brown eyes filled with emotion. "You," he said. He leaned forward suddenly and pecked her on the lips. When he pulled away, she stopped him with her hand on his shoulder.

"If I'm the reason you're putting off all of your world duties, then I think I deserve a little bit more than that," she said in a mock-serious tone. The both of them smiled and bent together for another kiss. It was slow, gentle and careful, but soon grew more passionate.

_Hee! They're so cute! Hope you enjoyed it! Signed reviews _always_ get a response…No flames? Please? _


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